EA, We Need to Talk About Porsche

On Friday last week I received a press release from EA spruiking the debut of a brand-new Porsche model in Real Racing 3. According to EA this marks the first time a real car reveal has happened in a mobile game. It’s a nebulous sort of claim, to be honest. The video below hit the Real Racing YouTube channel on February 4, but the first advertisement the new Porsche Cayman GT4 hit Porsche's own YouTube channel on February 3. The press release from Porsche itself, also dated a day prior to EA’s press release, makes no mention of Real Racing 3. Nor have any of the specialty motoring sites that reported on Porsche’s new Cayman unveil.

Nonetheless, the EA statement explained the publisher was “proud to partner with Porsche to reveal their brand new Cayman GT4.”

The sentiment’s unsurprising but it is interesting. Why? Because around six months ago EA did not want to talk about Porsche at all.

EA has a pretty sweet deal with Porsche for the German marque’s vehicles to exclusively appear in its video games but, somewhat strangely, mid-last year EA didn’t actually want to discuss it.

Funnily enough, Porsche didn’t either.

Way back in July 2014 I reached out to both EA and Porsche for some insight around the long-term and exclusive relationship between the video game publisher and automaker. EA opted not to answer my queries. A Porsche spokesperson initially seemed more forthcoming but, despite several reminders, I ultimately received no statement from the company.

It appeared EA and Porsche simply weren’t interested in talking about their partnership.

So what’s the point of it, then?

A Porsche 911 GT3 as seen in Need for Speed Rivals.

Porsche, in the company’s own words, “is the most successful manufacturer by far in the history of international sports car racing.” Porsche has tasted success at the highest level across a wide range of motorsports, from sports car and LMP racing to rallying and hill climbs.

Porsche holds the record for most constructor wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with 16. It dominates the USA’s two most important endurance races – the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Daytona. Porsche’s purpose built race car, the 911 GT3 Cup, has sold over 2,400 units worldwide since 1998 and is the world’s most successful race car.

“

When it comes to video games, Porsche might as well not exist.

And yet, when it comes to video games, Porsche might as well not exist. We can’t drive Porsches in Forza Horizon 2, Driveclub, The Crew, or Grid Autosport. There are no Porsches in Forza Motorsport 5, or Gran Turismo 6, or even hardcore online race sims like iRacing. They’re absent from Assetto Corsa and Project CARS too. Outside of unofficial mods or the occasional anomaly (more on that in a moment), EA’s Need for Speed and Real Racing series are the only place you’ll find Porsches these days.

It’s honestly hard to see how any of this benefits Porsche in any real way. After all, there was no new Need for Speed game or Real Racing game released in 2014. Why is Porsche content with this deal? Is Porsche simply satisfied to sit in the grandstand watching gamers test driving vehicles from every other major auto manufacturer all year? It makes no real sense.

The models on offer ranged from 1950 to 2000.

15 years ago EA released Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed (or Need for Speed: Porsche 2000 in Europe). It was an overt ode to Porsche featuring models spanning five decades. EA has been squatting on the license for Porsche ever since, but for what? There’s been no follow-up to Porsche Unleashed and these days the marque doesn’t seem to be treated any differently from the others that feature in Need for Speed. You could argue that Porsche has actually been reduced to a support player. Need for Speed Rivals features fewer Porsches than it does Lamborghinis or Ferraris – manufacturers that aren’t exclusive to the game. There isn’t even a Porsche on the cover, despite Need for Speed easily being the highest profile racer they’re permitted to appear in; there’s just a Ferrari F12berlinetta being pursued by a Koenigsegg Agera R.

The well-supported Real Racing 3 actually has over a dozen Porsches in it, but a freemium racing game played on a tablet with touch controls is never, ever going to supplant the big-name console and PC racers in the hearts and minds of motorsport junkies. It’s also still only half as many Porsches as were featured in Forza Motorsport 4.

It’s actually quite simple. Since the beginning of the Forza franchise the Porsche license was available to Turn 10 and Microsoft via a sub-licensing deal with EA. This is how it worked until Forza Motorsport 4 when, in Turn 10 creative director Dan Greenawalt’s words, “EA couldn’t see their way towards collaborating again.”

As a result, Forza Motorsport 4 had no Porsches on-disc.

“We’ve asked our contacts at EA to reconsider their position frequently and regularly over the last 18 months,” said Greenawalt at the time. “We also reached out to various influential people in gaming to lobby on our behalf, and on your behalf, but that was to no avail.”

“Losing more than 35 Porsche models is a lost opportunity for Porsche fans (as well as a lost opportunity to make future Porsche fans), but I hope that Forza 4 players understand and enjoy the new makes and models that have taken their place.”

The Penske Racing RS Spyder as (eventually) seen in Forza Motorsport 4.

Several months later, however, some 30 Porsches did make their way to Forza 4 in a large, paid expansion pack. EA, it would seem, eventually came to the party. Porsche even helped announce it, making it quite clear that the motorsport-centric nature of the Forza environment is a very good fit for its cars and that the company is aware just how crucial video games can be in getting potential customers to forge relationships with car brands.

“This is an excellent opportunity for Porsche to offer a virtual experience with our sports cars in a very fitting environment – on race tracks around the world,” said Andre Oosthuizen, VP of marketing for Porsche Cars North America, upon the pack’s release. “In many ways, best-selling gaming titles like Forza Motorsport 4 generate enthusiasm for products that often translate into a lifelong connection to the brand.”

And yet, despite this apparent understanding, Porsche has been MIA from Forza ever since – and it’s still yet to appear in similar genre juggernauts like GT.

Real Racing 3 is the only game featuring the new 919.

The deal between EA and Porsche is coming between Porsche and hordes of engaged car fans worldwide. It’s a frustrating issue for Porsche enthusiasts to have to deal with. Later last year, during a lengthy red flag during the Australia’s Bathurst 1000 touring car endurance race, I flipped over to catch the beginning of the 6 Hours of Fuji and see Mark Webber piloting his Porsche 919 Hybrid. I’m honestly not really into Le Mans prototypes but, for those of you that are, I was reminded of just how frustrating the situation between EA and Porsche can be. Project CARS, for instance, has secured the official license for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and will let us run the event in real-time against a full grid of 55 opponents. The 919 cannot appear in Project CARS, however, despite the significance of the winningest manufacturer in endurance racing history returning the event after a 16-year hiatus, and despite the fact EA has no competing PC or console equivalent. Real Racing 3, which features the 919, is a mobile-only game and the arcade-oriented, street racing-based Need for Speed series is about as far removed from LMP racing as it gets.

EA is, of course, simply exercising a contractual advantage it has over its competitors, which public companies are wont to do. My question to EA (and Porsche), however, is whether it’s worth it? With gearheads who prefer racing sims over arcade and iOS titles generally irate over the matter, have we reached a point where EA having Porsche locked-up may be doing more harm than good? Nobody wants to answer that question.

A few months back I asked Andy Tudor, creative director on Project CARS, whether it was frustrating to not be able to include Porsches in Project CARS. His one-word response was simply, “Nope.”

While some developers appear to be over it, however, I don’t think fans are (or ever will be). There’s only one winner in this whole situation and that’s Ruf, the small German automaker that installs its own parts into unmarked Porsche chassis and is officially recognised as a manufacturer by the German government. It’s absurd that Rufs appear in more racing games these days than Porsches, but they do; cosmetically similar Ruf vehicles have been appearing as Porsche proxies in racing games since Gran Turismo 2 (the Ruf CTR “Yellowbird” appeared in 1989’s The Duel: Test Drive II, but it appeared with a Porsche 959 rather than instead of one).

Ruf has reached millions through a host of different racing games for well over a decade simply because Porsche can’t.

How many revheads would have never even heard of Ruf were it not for Gran Turismo 2?

“There's no doubt that Gran Turismo played a huge role in our decision to launch the Lancer Evolution in the United States,” Mitsubishi official Takashi Kiuchi told Reuters back in 2002. “The car wouldn't have attracted as much attention as it has in the United States without the game.”

That’s the power of racing games. They can turn kids into car enthusiasts before they’re even old enough to drive. It was the Colin McRae Rally series that kickstarted my infatuation with Fast Fords and I drive one now, in real-life, as a result.

But Porsche simply isn’t reaching that same audience, especially since the sub-licensing dried up. Are the young guys and girls playing racing games today going to dream of owning a Porsche of their own when they’re older? Or are they going to desire an Audi, or a BMW, or perhaps a Nissan instead? That is, the sports cars they’re far more familiar with from a lifetime of gaming.

Out of sight, out of mind, right?

Luke is Games Editor at IGN AU. You can find him on IGN here or on Twitter @MrLukeReilly, or chat with him and the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community.